The industry currently provides tools for allowing users to upload files to network-accessible sites for storage. For example, a user may upload digital photographs to a site that is specifically devoted to image storage. If the user designates the photographs as public, any other user can retrieve the photographs from the site. Some sites also allow the user to insert a link to a site-stored file in a network-accessible host (e.g., a web page, a blog, etc.). A consumer of that host can then retrieve the file by activating the link within the host.
Systems which accommodate the above-described type of linking operation are specifically adapted for particular types of files. For example, a video site may provide a special interface for storing and linking to video files. This approach may present various difficulties, as a user who wishes to create a host that makes reference to different types of items may be forced interact with the idiosyncratic interfaces employed by multiple different types of sites.